advice/thoughts please
shadalku
Posts: 9 Member
Male
Age: 50
5' 10''
SW: 326
CW: 196
Goal:174
I have lost 130lbs over the last 18 months through eating less (about 1800 calories a day) and and moving (a bit) more, though I have have alawysa cycled 50-60 miles a week even at my heaviest. I am now convinced that this approach (eat more) is the one that I should follow to lose the last of my weight, but am having difficulty working out what level I should set my calories to. The spreadsheet that I use to work out BMR and TDEE (which was posted on a thread here a while ago) gvies the following table:
Sedentary (Little or no exercise + desk job) -1.2
Lightly Active (Little daily activity & light exercise 1-3 days a week) -1.3/ 1.4
Moderately Active (Moderately active daily life & Moderate exercise 3-5 days a week) -1.5/ 1.6
Very Active (Physically demanding lifestyle & Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week) -1.7/ 1.8
Extremely Active (Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job) - 1.9 /2
The number being the factor that you multiply your BMR by to get your TDEE. My problem is that I don't really fit any of them. I have a desk job but also exercise 6 days a week, so I am not Sedentary but nor am I Very Active becasue that requries a physically demanding lifestyle AND 6-7 days exercise. I have the latter but nor the former - so should I split the difference and use Lightly Active or Moderatley Active? Multiply by 1.45? Any thoughts on this very welcome.
Also I have three related but possibly condtradictory health goals-
1. To get to 174lbs - this would give me a BMI of just under 25. I know there are many who think BMI is not useful but this does not include my health insurance company! To resolve an issue over coverage I need to get to a BMI of under 25.
2. I am traning for a 80 mile charity cycle ride in August so need to keep up quite high levels of cardio - lots of miles and saddle time. Over the winter I mostly used my daily commute and spin classes to keep my legs moving but now I am getting into more serious road training - currently 2 x 40 miles rides a week ( and still spin classes 2-3 times a week) but this will rise in frequency and the distance will increase as I get closer to the event.
3. Trying to perserve as much lean muscle mass as I can. I have been doing 45-60 minutes of resistence/strength work 2-3 times a week ( I think this how to describe what I am doing - not really sure of the terminology), using gym machines - lat pull down, pectoral machine, leg press, chest press, shoulder lift. Just last week I got an instructor to show me how do basically the same things but using dumb bells and a barbell, only done this once so far and am still nervous about using these as opposed to the machines but all advice seems to be that free weights are better so I will perservere.
Can I do all three at once?
Thanks in adavance for any thoughts you may have.
Age: 50
5' 10''
SW: 326
CW: 196
Goal:174
I have lost 130lbs over the last 18 months through eating less (about 1800 calories a day) and and moving (a bit) more, though I have have alawysa cycled 50-60 miles a week even at my heaviest. I am now convinced that this approach (eat more) is the one that I should follow to lose the last of my weight, but am having difficulty working out what level I should set my calories to. The spreadsheet that I use to work out BMR and TDEE (which was posted on a thread here a while ago) gvies the following table:
Sedentary (Little or no exercise + desk job) -1.2
Lightly Active (Little daily activity & light exercise 1-3 days a week) -1.3/ 1.4
Moderately Active (Moderately active daily life & Moderate exercise 3-5 days a week) -1.5/ 1.6
Very Active (Physically demanding lifestyle & Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week) -1.7/ 1.8
Extremely Active (Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job) - 1.9 /2
The number being the factor that you multiply your BMR by to get your TDEE. My problem is that I don't really fit any of them. I have a desk job but also exercise 6 days a week, so I am not Sedentary but nor am I Very Active becasue that requries a physically demanding lifestyle AND 6-7 days exercise. I have the latter but nor the former - so should I split the difference and use Lightly Active or Moderatley Active? Multiply by 1.45? Any thoughts on this very welcome.
Also I have three related but possibly condtradictory health goals-
1. To get to 174lbs - this would give me a BMI of just under 25. I know there are many who think BMI is not useful but this does not include my health insurance company! To resolve an issue over coverage I need to get to a BMI of under 25.
2. I am traning for a 80 mile charity cycle ride in August so need to keep up quite high levels of cardio - lots of miles and saddle time. Over the winter I mostly used my daily commute and spin classes to keep my legs moving but now I am getting into more serious road training - currently 2 x 40 miles rides a week ( and still spin classes 2-3 times a week) but this will rise in frequency and the distance will increase as I get closer to the event.
3. Trying to perserve as much lean muscle mass as I can. I have been doing 45-60 minutes of resistence/strength work 2-3 times a week ( I think this how to describe what I am doing - not really sure of the terminology), using gym machines - lat pull down, pectoral machine, leg press, chest press, shoulder lift. Just last week I got an instructor to show me how do basically the same things but using dumb bells and a barbell, only done this once so far and am still nervous about using these as opposed to the machines but all advice seems to be that free weights are better so I will perservere.
Can I do all three at once?
Thanks in adavance for any thoughts you may have.
0
Replies
-
Have you tried this link tog et your numbers and the explanation of exercise is different/clearer
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
Have a look and let me know what you think0 -
Hi there,
This was quite useful to me in figuring out my activity levels:
http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
I average my counts over 7 days. So if I lift 1.5 hours worth over a total week, I divided those numbers by 7 to figure out what to put into the "moderate" dial. Same with light walking, etc.
Hope that helps you, at least with activity level stuff.0 -
thanks for this. This calculator has a similar issue for me - it uses 3-5 hours moderate exercise of 5-6 strenuous or 7+ hours strenuous. I do over 7 hours exercise a week but not all of it I would class as strenuous - probably 4 hours strenuous and 3-5 hours moderate.
Using the 5-6 hours as a middle goound I get a tdee-15% of 2691 which seems scarliy high to me. I really dont know if I can let myself eat that much.0 -
thnak yo for posting this. Using this I come up with a tdee -15% of 2726!!! Not sure I can believe I can eat his and still lose.0
-
Hi there,
Given you being a male, and pretty darn active, that seems right!
I am a short, moderately active female who doesn't sit all day. I believe my tdee came to about 2200.
Thats a lot of food for me to eat.
Read the sticky threads on what to expect. You MAY NOT lose right away.
I wonder if you are able to get a BMI override by presenting research to the insurance company, plus some other tests from doctors.
Many very fit people have BMIs outside "normal" ranges. I almost wonder if there's a discrimnation argument to be made here.0 -
Thnaks Elly
I guess I will have to get my mind around eating more, which is strange because the reason I was over 300lbs was because I had no problem eating (and drinking) lots. Worried about undoing all my hard work to date. I will look at the sticky you suggest. The insurance company see me as a high risk and given how heavy I was they were right to, they need some yardstick to judge how "healthy" i am and, lke it or not, BMI is the standard they (and many in the medical professions) use. I dont want to use the imperfections of BMI as an excuse not to lose the fat that I feel I need to.0 -
I would go with moderately active if you don't feel comfortable using the next level up. That number sounds right to me for your TDEE. I am female, 5'1", and under 120 and my TDEE is 2056. I know it seems like a lot to eat but look at it this way nothing runs efficiently with out the right amount of fuel and same goes for your body. If you give your body what it needs it won't hold on to the food you are eating its going to use it as fuel because it knows you will be giving it more fuel again.0
-
thnak yo for posting this. Using this I come up with a tdee -15% of 2726!!! Not sure I can believe I can eat his and still lose.
I had trouble believing my scooby numbers too... I sit for 10 hours a day M-F with my commute and desk job but am very active (tri training-run, bike, swim, heavy lifting ) 6 days a week when I am not working. My estimated burn was 3,300...
I bought a BodyMediaFit to get my real TDEE and my actual average over the last 14 days was 2300!!! Knowing your number is key! It amazes me how much sitting drags your number down... On weekends I burn as high as 2700 just walking the dog, doing laundry and errands. On my rest days I can burn as few as 2000.
I will also add that I have trashed my metabolism over the last 20 years yo-yo dieting, eating too few calories and training too hard. I am now eating at my full TDEE to reset.0 -
I work at a desk all day, and exercise about 6 days a week as well. I have myself set at moderately active. I just got a BMF this week, and I believe this was the correct estimate from what it is telling me so far. So, I would probably start with moderately active.0
-
thanks Grimm. I think I will do as you suggest and give a few weeks0
-
Thnaks Cyrstal
to be clear - did your BMF show you burnng 1000 less than the Scooby estimate (2300 as opposed to 3300)?0 -
thnak yo for posting this. Using this I come up with a tdee -15% of 2726!!! Not sure I can believe I can eat his and still lose.
Well, I'm female and my tdee is 2584(+) and tdee - 15% is 2196 (+) I put in that plus because as I watch my BMF over the past few days, my burns are higher than I expected....I think I may have to adjust up a bit after I get my mean average from BMF.
As a male, your number is MORE than reasonable.0 -
Hi again,
I started a thread here last week called, "so how did we get fat?"
(because i felt like you feel...didnt I get overweight by eating so much?)
But among other things, including member thoughts on mindless eating without tracking,etc, Lucia stepped in to remind us about yo yo dieting and how that's wrecked havoc on so many metabolisms. You know, binging or treating yourself heavily one day, scrimping the next? Or crash/fad diets.
Our bodies have had no consistency. And that's so much of what this is about on here: retraining our bodies to trust us with a consistent amount of fuel.0 -
thanks to everyone for their thoughts. I have put my calories up to 2278 - here goes...0
-
Based on the activity you mentioned you are very active. I'm moderate with a desk job and I lift an hour 3times a week and Zumba once. My tdee is 2251 and I eat all if it. :happy:
Many times we underestimate activity. Wish you could borrow a BFM for one week :flowerforyou:0 -
Thnaks Lucia
I get the message. Calories up to 2278 to start with. see how that goes for a month and then maybe higher ...0
